Totted up my Munros after Monday’s not-exactly-Cluanie Horseshoe and came to 243, which means (discounting the Tops and Deletions I won’t finish without) I have 39 full Ms to go. So what an excuse for a silly blog title, and here (after a Facebook dry run) we go…
Nae ‘Munro-Lite’ here, with this lot (not forgetting associated Tops and Deletions) set to give me everything that’s been in Munro’s Tables! So 39 of 282 Munros to go, or approximately 80 of 600 (?) recorded ‘summits’, with about 20 hill days looking necessary to mop up the remaining main peaks + missed odds and ends (see A–G below).
Listed North to South and not (still evolving) target order:
1–5 Fisherfield Six (five + demoted Beinn a’ Chlaidheimh!)
6–11 Fannichs
12 Slioch (saving for last!)
13 Fionn Bheinn
14–16 Beinn Liath Mhor, Sgorr Ruadh, Maol Chean-Dearg
17–22 Moruisg, Maoile Lunndaidh, Sgurr a’ Chaorachain, Sgurr Choinnich, Lurg Mhor, Bidean a’ Choire Sheasgaich (+ demoted Sgurr nan Ceannaichean!)
23–26 Sgor Gaoith, Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair, Monadh Mor, Beinn Bhrotain
27–37 Glenshee
38–39 Mayar, Driesh
A Ceann Garbh (old position): deleted position of Top I missed because I guessed at (and went to) something else without it marked on my map (have already got Ceann Garbh as marked now)
B Meall Dearg (Northern Pinnacles of Liathach)
C Sgurr a’ Fionn Choire (eastern Top of Bruach na Frithe)
D Beinn Gharbh (deleted Top of ‘Ring of Tarf’ Beinn Dearg missed because I didn’t know I wanted it!)
E Deleted old grid reference for Meall Garbh (Carn Mairg group) + Meall Luaidhe (deleted Top)
F Sron dha-Murchdi (deleted Top of Meall Corranaich… can be picked up same day as E above)
G Beinn an Lochain (long demoted to Corbett)
For anyone who’s not yet sussed out my peak symbols, they’re Triangle = Munro (filled red when done), Circle = Top (red), Square = Deletion (orange) and Star = Corbett (which takes a yellow fill and here means sub-3,000ft ex-Munro). But afraid you’ll never see them all on a map at the scale above (not even clicking through for the ‘full-size’ version, which will just give you a clearer view of the same thing), with the Munros frequently buried under jumbles of Tops and Deletions and no obvious way to arrange a Memory-Map overlay in prioritised layers. (Think exporting as .csv, reordering and reimporting might just work, but never tried it… and it’s just not an issue when zooming in for planning or printing at 1:50,000 etc. to use!)
[Edit: 16 August 2015… yes, it’s possible, but the only ‘clean’ method I’ve found is to export the separate categories as .mmo files, delete all overlays, close Memory-Map, reopen, then import the categorised .mmo overlays ‘bottom-up’ so the first imported forms the bottom layer and last imported forms the top.]
Now, I’ve little doubt that I’d have finished my Munros long ago if just targeting the 282 (or the 284 there’d still have been had that been my aim), but there’ll be no caving in when not even Ben Avon’s four Tops, seven Deletions and 20 miles of wandering to its single Munro could break my resolve. So that’s just the kind of thing you have to deal with if you’re me… 18 full Munros in the whole of the Cairngorms, but 18 summits (just two of them Munros) between Ben Avon and Beinn a’ Bhuird alone! By no means the only example of ‘straggly Top syndrome’ but easily the most glaring, though the likes of the Carn Eige/Mam Sodhail/Ceathreamhnan massif (eight Ms, eighteen Ts, six Ds), The Saddle (one M, three Ts, four Ds), An Teallach (two Ms, seven Ts, one D), Ben Wyvis (one M, three Ts, three Ds) and the Gorms as a whole (just look at all those circles and squares!) are also pretty good. And there’s precious little on any of those (perhaps just the odd Gormlet?) I didn’t think worthwhile…
So c.20 days left to completely ‘compleat’, and I could be finished this summer but for late July and August already being pretty well assigned to other things. But we’re still getting into ‘endgame’ territory here, and (with the analysis above to spur me on) perhaps it doesn’t have to be so very much longer!